Michael Otto (journalist)

Michael Otto (Michael Damien) (born 1964) is a New Zealand engineer, public relations adviser and journalist. As a senior journalist, he has specialised in religious journalism.

Early life

Otto spent his childhood in Auckland where he was educated at St Peter's College (1973–1981). He was dux of that school in 1981^[1]

Career

Otto trained first as an electrical engineer obtaining a Ph.D in that subject from the University of Auckland in 1990.^[2] He then worked as an engineer at New Zealand Steel in Glenbrook, Auckland and PDL Electronics, Napier. In the 1990s Otto studied at Holy Cross College, Mosgiel, completing a Bachelor of Theology degree at Otago University and receiving the University Bookshop Prize in Theology in 1996. He returned to engineering for a period but then retrained as a journalist, completing a graduate diploma in journalism at Auckland University of Technology in 2003, finishing top of his class.^[3] He was awarded the prize for outstanding Graduate in the Graduate Diploma of Journalism course.^[4]

Journalism

Otto commenced his journalism as a reporter for four years on the Manukau Courier in South Auckland, initially covering health and welfare issues, before becoming involved in local government issues. He was an Engineering , Printing and Manufacturing Union delegate and was a member of that union's media industry council. He then worked as communications adviser for the Mayor of Manukau City, Len Brown.^[3] Joining the NZ Catholic newspaper in 2008,^[5] he is the senior journalist on that newspaper. He has said: "There can be a certain tension between news values and Christian values, but at NZ Catholic my role is to work within that tension fruitfully for the good of our church and nation". He sees the Catholic community as his "own community".^[3]

References

1. ^ St Peter's College Magazine 1981, St Peter's College, Auckland, 1981, p. 18.
2. ^ Michael Damien Otto, A new model of a load commutated inverter fed synchronous motor drive with finite DC link inductance, University of Auckland, 1989.
3. ^ ^{a b c} "New journalist widely experienced", NZ Catholic, November 16–29, 2008, p. 3.
4. ^ Te Wah Nui, June, 2004, p. 8
5. ^ [1]

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Name	Otto, Michael
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Date of birth	1964
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